DETROIT — Colson Montgomery hadn’t hit sixth in the White Sox’ lineup since April 22. But that’s where he has found himself in four of the last five games, including the opener of a big three-game series Friday against the second-place Tigers.
“I talked to Colson the other day and just said, We’re going to move you down a spot or two in the order,” manager Will Venable said Thursday. “No big deal. Just want to take a little pressure off him not to feel like he had to do anything more than just get back on line and be himself.”
It hasn’t quite worked. After hitting a three-run homer batting sixth Sunday, Montgomery was hitless in his last 10 at-bats in that spot entering Friday. In 114 games, his batting average was down to .212, and despite hitting 26 home runs, his slugging percentage was down to .435.
In his first three at-bats Friday, he struck out, grounded out and flew out.
In 71 games last season, his rookie year, Montgomery batted only .239, but he slugged .529 and hit 21 homers. This season, he’s striking out more, he’s walking less and he isn’t hitting the ball as hard.
Call it a sophomore slump if you want, but judging by Montgomery’s frustrated reactions after many at-bats, it looks like more than that. And for the Sox to maintain their hold on first place in the American League Central, they need him to figure it out soon. Time is of the essence.
“Colson knows he’s not performing to the level he is capable of performing,” Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon told the Sun-Times. “Your sophomore season, you expect some form of regression as the league starts to learn more about you. But right now is really just a timing thing for him — the timing of his move and getting to a spot where you can fire when you want to fire. For some guys, it’s when they initiate their move relative to the pitcher.”
Montgomery has said those frustrated reactions aren’t because of the result of the at-bat, but because he didn’t follow his process. But truth be told, both have become problems.
“You have the mechanical side of things, and then you have the approach side of things,” Shomon said. “Timing goes inside of that. I think he gets frustrated when he gets away from his plan and he starts maybe trying to do too much. What causes him to do too much is overthinking inside the at-bat. He knows that when those things are in place, he’s going to put together a good at-bat.”
Since the 2025 All-Star break, Montgomery ranks fifth in the majors with 47 home runs. A run of homers would be a pretty good sign that his timing is back. But what would indicate that without a 400-foot blast as evidence?
“Good swing decisions and stung balls the other way,” Shomon said. “More like left field, center field. We saw it earlier — that walk-off against the Angels. He got a breaking ball, line drive up the middle. Those little moments. That’s when you know Colson is in a good spot.”
The thing is, that happened April 29. We’re a long way from that.
Venable hasn’t hit Montgomery lower than sixth this season, and given his devotion to handedness — Venable tries to avoid pockets of hitters on the same side of the plate — he probably won’t.
By the sound of it, Montgomery won’t hit — or not hit — his way out of the lineup, either.
“We still have all the faith and trust in Colson,” Shomon said. “He’s a young hitter playing at the highest level in baseball. There’s no doubt Colson’s going to continue to work through it, and he’s going to get out of it. No one’s free of this. Guys go through this stuff.”